Poly-Victimization across Time in Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth Receiving Behavioral Health Treatment

ABSTRACT

Diversion and community-based treatment for juveniles involved in the justice system is commonly used across jurisdictions as an alternative to incarceration. While evidence-based approaches to assessment have allowed courts and treatment providers to more accurately identify areas of treatment needs, studies have rarely examined how needs change during treatment. One specific area of treatment needs common to juvenile justice-involved youth is exposure to violence (ETV). This study extended a previous cross-sectional study that examined the importance of contextual location on conceptualizing ETV by examining how ETV changes during treatment for youth involved in the justice system. Using Latent Transition Analyses, the data revealed three stable groups: (a) low ETV, (b) Home and School ETV, and (c) Poly-Location ETV. While there was little interclass movement, family history of mental health problems predicted movement from the low ETV to another class. Results confirm the importance of examining the contextual location of the exposure, the relative stability of exposure during treatment, and the importance of providing family-based behavioral health treatment for JJI youth. These findings suggest that juvenile justice-involved youth receiving community-based treatment are likely to continue to experience ETV and that treatment approaches should address this area of need.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent victimization
• juvenile justice
• treatment
• diversion programs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by grants from the Ohio Department of Youth Services and the Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services [4AS3190].